Handful Players
Handful Players, 762 Fulton Street #305, #305, San Francisco, CA 94102
About
Handful Players offers free, inclusive year-round musical theater and performing arts programs where children take part in acting, singing, dance, puppetry, clowning, spoken word, set painting, and jazz. The program involves kids in every aspect of a real theater production, including on stage, center stage, and back stage, and includes creating and performing original, culturally relevant plays with acclaimed theater playwrights.
• Ages: 6–18 years old
• Price: Handful Players provides free, inclusive year-round musical theater and performing arts programs for children at schools and community centers in San Francisco. We provide free, after-school musical theater and performing arts classes.
Since its inception in 2007, Handful Players has offered theatrical workshops and after-school programs to kids in San Francisco’s Western Addition neighborhood, and at the end of its 17th year in December 2023 it merged with the African-American Shakespeare Company while retaining its name and dedicated staff. The program has helped over 3,650 students through more than 3,900 hours of musical theater workshops, culminating in over 335 student performances with live musical accompaniment and free receptions for the community, and has commissioned nationally recognized playwrights to write 95 original plays in collaboration with the kids that explore themes such as bullying, acting with empathy, and the history of the Fillmore jazz district. Handful Players states a focus on building self-esteem, learning new skills, finding creative voice, having fun, teaching teamwork, collaboration, organization, and communication, and on children learning collaboration, confidence, and discipline through theater.
The staff includes a dedicated team of experienced artists and teachers who guide kids ages 8–18 through theater arts classes, along with innovative teaching artists, playwrights, and jazz musicians who reflect the neighborhood’s demographics and serve as role models and mentors. The program describes itself as providing a safe, positive, safe, nurturing environment and a place where any child can have fun, be themselves, and realize their richest potential. Leadership includes a Founder and Executive Director Emeritus.
Handful Players states a commitment to supporting black and brown children and families in the face of racial inequities and brutality, and to using its skills and resources to offer avenues for youth to express emotions and trauma, use personal narratives as tools, and seek social justice. The program describes a goal of amplifying voices and stories to find healing, strength, and understanding, and of celebrating social, cultural, economic, and racial diversity and building bridges that enrich all generations.
The program partners with schools, grassroots organizations, artists, musicians, volunteers, and contributors to create theater experiences for children, and has hosted children and their families at professional theater events such as the African-American Shakespeare Company’s “Cinderella,” ACT’s “A Christmas Carol,” and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s student tour, with community partners providing support to make the programs possible. Handful Players and its work have been recognized with the CBS-KPIX 5 Jefferson Award for Community Service, the Theatre Bay Area Legacy Award, a California Arts Council Grant for Artists-In-Schools Extension Programs, the Mo’MAGIC Community Connector Award, a San Francisco Board of Supervisors Certificate of Recognition, and a California State Senate Certificate of Recognition.
Last updated June 19, 2026.
• Ages: 6–18 years old
• Price: Handful Players provides free, inclusive year-round musical theater and performing arts programs for children at schools and community centers in San Francisco. We provide free, after-school musical theater and performing arts classes.
Since its inception in 2007, Handful Players has offered theatrical workshops and after-school programs to kids in San Francisco’s Western Addition neighborhood, and at the end of its 17th year in December 2023 it merged with the African-American Shakespeare Company while retaining its name and dedicated staff. The program has helped over 3,650 students through more than 3,900 hours of musical theater workshops, culminating in over 335 student performances with live musical accompaniment and free receptions for the community, and has commissioned nationally recognized playwrights to write 95 original plays in collaboration with the kids that explore themes such as bullying, acting with empathy, and the history of the Fillmore jazz district. Handful Players states a focus on building self-esteem, learning new skills, finding creative voice, having fun, teaching teamwork, collaboration, organization, and communication, and on children learning collaboration, confidence, and discipline through theater.
The staff includes a dedicated team of experienced artists and teachers who guide kids ages 8–18 through theater arts classes, along with innovative teaching artists, playwrights, and jazz musicians who reflect the neighborhood’s demographics and serve as role models and mentors. The program describes itself as providing a safe, positive, safe, nurturing environment and a place where any child can have fun, be themselves, and realize their richest potential. Leadership includes a Founder and Executive Director Emeritus.
Handful Players states a commitment to supporting black and brown children and families in the face of racial inequities and brutality, and to using its skills and resources to offer avenues for youth to express emotions and trauma, use personal narratives as tools, and seek social justice. The program describes a goal of amplifying voices and stories to find healing, strength, and understanding, and of celebrating social, cultural, economic, and racial diversity and building bridges that enrich all generations.
The program partners with schools, grassroots organizations, artists, musicians, volunteers, and contributors to create theater experiences for children, and has hosted children and their families at professional theater events such as the African-American Shakespeare Company’s “Cinderella,” ACT’s “A Christmas Carol,” and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s student tour, with community partners providing support to make the programs possible. Handful Players and its work have been recognized with the CBS-KPIX 5 Jefferson Award for Community Service, the Theatre Bay Area Legacy Award, a California Arts Council Grant for Artists-In-Schools Extension Programs, the Mo’MAGIC Community Connector Award, a San Francisco Board of Supervisors Certificate of Recognition, and a California State Senate Certificate of Recognition.
Last updated June 19, 2026.
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